Information Communication Technology Needs of Small-Scale Farmers in Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study sought to identify the information communication technology (ICT) needs of small-scale farmers in Anambra State, Nigeria. A structured interview schedule was used to collect data from a sample of 108 farmers. Results revealed that the majority used radio and television and owned mobile phones and video machines. Constraints to use included capacity, infrastructural/technical and logistical problems. The study recommends that the Nigerian government reorient its policies in order to harness the potential of ICTs to contribute to agricultural development and highlights the need to raise awareness of the agricultural uses of ICTs among the government, other national stakeholders, and rural communities.

Prospects of Cooperative Society for Sustainable Agriculture Among Smallholder Farmers in Benue State, Nigeria

“…Primary occupation Majority (68.8%) of the respondents had farming as a major occupation, 20% were civil servants, among others (Table 1). This finding agrees with Ajani who observed that most of the people in the rural areas are engaged in subsistence farming [17].…”

“…They are farmers whose average land holdings is about 1-3 hectares who cannot benefit from economies of scale hence resort to cooperative societies. This buttresses Ajani and Agwu who stated that both the young and aged still produce at the subsistence level in order to feed members of their families [15].…”

Food Consumer Information Behavior: Need Arousal, Seeking Behavior, and Information Use

“…Despite the fact that there is not a common definition of "information needs," the term has been (Bawden, 2006) and remains widely used in many fields-such as agricultural research (Aina, 2012;Ajani & Agwu, 2012;Oladeji, Oyesola, Ogunleye, & Raji, 2011;Villamil, Alexander, Silvis, & Gray, 2012;Yusuf, Masika, & Ighodaro, 2013), health research (Lundgrén-Laine, Kalafati, Kontio, Kauko, & Salanterä, 2013;Reeder, Thompson, & Demiris, 2012;Sullivan, Harlan, Pakenham-Walsh, & Ouma, 2012), food studies (Knopp, 2011;Pham, Jones, Dewey, Sargeant, & Marshall, 2012;Schultz, Nothwehr, Hanson, Chrisman, & Haines, 2012), leisure research (Chen & Qi, 2010;Wong & Liu, 2011), and engineering (Heisig, Caldwell, Grebici, & Clarkson, 2010;Wild, McMahon, Darlington, Liu, & Culley, 2010), to name only a few. In this article the term is used to describe any derivative need, that arises from deficits in a more basic (primary) need-or in a set of simultaneously expressed needs-and which can be satisfied only through the acquisition of information.…”

Promoting the Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for Agricultural Transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for Policy

“…According to Ajani and Agwu (2012), other areas of importance of ICTs indicated by small-scale farmers include: easy access to agricultural information; provision of information on weather, soils, crop, and animal disease outbreaks; provision of information about new farming techniques and new food storage and processing technologies; and quick access to information on market prices of crops and livestock and farm inputs such as fertilizer, agro-chemicals, etc. Other areas of importance include ensuring effective communication with other farmers; availability of information on sources of credit, subsidies, and loans for farming; and ensuring effective communication with extension agencies and NGOs.…”